INCORPORATED 1952 NUMBER 491 SEPTEMBER 1990 UPPER CANADA RAILWAY SOCIETY P.O. BOX 122, STATION "A" TORONTO, ONTARIO 2 » UCRS Newsletter » September 1990 Newsletter Upper Canada Railway Society With this issue, Pat Scrimgeour takes over as editor of the NEWSLETTER from the retiring Stu Westland, who will continue as Editorial Advisor. Stu has most recently been editor of the NEWSLETTER since 1980. Pat has co-ordinated the railway news since 1987, and has produced the NEWSLETTERS under Stu's Number 491 - September 1990 direction since October 1989. Upper Canada Railw^ Society Membership dues for 1991 P.O. Box 122, Station A Toronto, Ontario M5W 1A2 The dues for 1991 have been set by the Board of Directors. For addresses in Canada, $25.00 ($24.00 if payment received before December 1st). For Editor addresses in the U.S. or overseas, $28.00 ($27.00 if payment received before Pat Scrimgeour December 1st), o^ if it is more convenient, you may pay $24.00 in U.S. Contrilxjting Editors funds. The dues for student members remains at $15.00. A renewal form will John Carter, Art Clowes, Don McQueen, be mailed with the October NEWSLETTER. • The increase in dues, the first in Sean Robitaille, Gray Scrimgeour, two years, is required because of the continuing inflation of lie costs of Chris Spinney, John Thompson printing and postage. Most of the improvements in the NEWSLETTER made in Editorial Advisor the last year — mailing in envelopes and a magazine-style format — have Stuart I. Westland been paid for by cost savings in the rest of the Society's operations. Cortiritxitions Corrections Please send news and short contributions to the section editors, at the addresses shown above each In the August NEWSLETTER • Several corrections and amplifications have been section. Please send articles and longer contributions identified for the disposition of TTC PCC cars. See page 19 in this to the above address. NEWSLETTER. • The CP train shown on the back cover is westbound Train 501. If you are using a computer, please send a plain DOS/ASCII text file on IBM-compatible (^A" or 3'A"), Macintosh, or Commodore 64/128 disks, and enclose Readers' Exchange a printed copy. Norman Seargeant, 7 Pembroke Grove, Hull HU7 3SR, North Humberside, England, has recently acquired a pack of SOUVENIR PLATING CARDS OF THE Upper Canada Railway Society GRAND TRUNK RAILWAY SYSTEM. The pack consists of 52 views, and dates firom Pat Scrimgeour, President 778-0912 early in the century. One of the engines shown is No. 969. Mr Seargeant is Rick Eastman, Vice-President-Services 494-3412 trying to find someone interested in railway memorabilia who might be Steve Danko, Vice-President/Treasurer 287-2844 Gordon Shaw, Secretary 889-6972 interested in the cards. Art Clowes, Membership Secretary 960-0063 John Carter, Director 690-6651 Al Faber, Director 231-7526 Al Maitland, Director 921-4023 UCRS Calendar George Meek, Director 532-5617 Membership dues for the six months between July Friday, September 21 - UCRS Toronto meeting, 7:30 p.m. Tom Henry, from and December, 1990, are $12.00. Dues for the calendar year 1991 are $25.00 for addresses in GO Transit, will give an illustrated update on GO'S expansion plans for the Canada, and $27.00 for addresses in the U.S. and next few years. Please bring your recent slides for the newscast. overseas. Student memberships, for those 17 years Friday, Septemtrer 28 - UCRS Hamilton meeting, 8:00 p.m. or younger, are $15.00. Please send inquiries and Surxfay, September 30 - TTC Gloucester Car Subway Tour. After 36 years changes of address to the above address. of service, Toronto's first subway cars are about to be retired. The four-hour "G-Train" tour will cover most of the 34-mile subway system, and will include Monthly Meetings a visit to the unused lower level of Bay Station and a look at the Toronto maintenance and storage facilities. Ticket prices, $25.00 adult; $15.00 child Third Friday of each month, 7:30 p.m., at the Toronto (accompanied by adult). Toronto Transportation Society, P.O. Box 5187, Board of Education, 6th floor auditorium, 155 College Station A, Toronto, Ontario M5W 1N5. For further information, call during the Street at McCaui Avenue. evening: Jeffrey, 782-9252, or Jan, 961-6605. Hamilton Friday, Octotjer 19 - UCRS Toronto meeting, 7:30 p.m. Gordon Thompson Fourth Friday of each month, 8:00 p.m., at the will give an illustrated talk on the railways and transit systems of Japan. Hamilton Spectator auditorium, 44 Frid Street, just off Main Street at Highway 403. You'il see views of the famous Tokaido line, preserved steam in operation, side-of-the-road troliey operation, and much more from this fascinating land. Friday, October 26 - UCRS Hamilton meeting, 8:00 p.m. COVER PHOTO by Uoyd Baxter Canadian Pacific 953 leads the CP mixed train Saturday, November 3 - UCRS Annual Banquet. Veteran raitfan Jim Brown from Orangeville to Elora, just west of Cataract will present a nostalgic programme looking at Canadian railroading and the Junction. changes that have taken place over the last 30 years. Details on Page 13. Future UCRS excurskxis - London and Port Stanley; New York and Lake Erie to Salamanca; Toronto city and area tour. UCRS Newsletter * September 1990 » 3 Ontario Northland Adventure BY NORMAN J. CARDWELL In the November 1989 NEWSLETTER, I wrote a column entitled sun starting to set earlier in the west, and producing glistening "Northern Ontario Subdivision Observations." In a nutshell, this reflections off northern waters, the scenery is absolutely divine. article featured a trip report from Toronto to Moosonee and I opted for the roast beef dinner TWo reasonably thick return. I enjoyed that excursion so much I repeated it this yea^ slices of fatless, gristie-free, tender bee^ smothered with rich on a new all-inclusive rail trip. brown gravy boiled white potatoes, and accompanied by a With so much happening in die railway industry of late, I medley of baby carrots, all done to perfection. The roast beef thought I would focus on one of Canada's most assertive dinner costs $12.45. A roast beef sandwich is $4.30, a railways, the Ontario Northland. Hang on to your hats. There cheeseburgei; $4.25. In my opinion, the food menu is is so much news on this railway it's enough to make your tie competitively priced. The Hquo^ beei; and wine is s%htly plate spinl overpriced. I have categorized this column by subdivision or have While enjoying this delightful ambience, I glanced out the emphasized certain geographical highlights, perhaps if only to window to the rear of the train, and — lo and behold — make for easier reading. For the sake of brevity I shall refer to another NORTHLANDER consist was trailing. In tow? Along for the the Ontario Northland Railway as fhe ONR, and the Ontario free ride? This sparked some enquiry on my part This extra Northland Transportation Commission, the railway's parent NORTHLANDER tumed out to be the "Pensioneas' Eicpress." Once body as the ONTC. a year; the ONR sends a NORTHLANDER up to Cochrane to pick up pensioners all the way down the line to North Bay. At North Bay they take them out for a cruise on Lake Nipissing aboard the Qnef Commanda II. What a thoughtful railway that looks after its pensioners in this fashioru ONR RAMORE SUBDIVISION (Englehart to Porquis Junction) At Swastika, the Kirkland Lake Subdivision branches off on its way to Kirkland Lake, Larder Lake, and eventually Rouyn and Noranda. ^ Ontario Northland Before I left on this trip, one of the other salesmen at the heating and air conditioning company where I work was working on a project called "ONTC Kirkland Lake Passenger I was pleasantly surprised when I boarded Tain 121 Terminal and Office Building." The equipment for this project (NORTHLANDER train-set 1985 behind GP38-2 1803) at Toronto called for 156 tons of air conditioning, with heating, which Union Station, and noticed that the head end power was fadng would equate to a fair-sized piece of real estate. I thought this eastbound. My goodness, a trip northbotmd up the Don IMley new complex might be located on the Kirkland Lake right past my home located in "Rosedale East." This was an Subdivision, but further investigation revealed that this new unexpected bonus, for it was the first time that I have building is being constructed on the site of the old arena, about experienced this very circuitous route. (Up the Bala Subdivision a block or two from the Kirkland Lake Sub. There is a very to the York Subdivision, westward across the York to the happy ending to this story. My company was successful in Newmarket Subdivision, and then northward.) We lost an hour obtaining the order VJilh that, I sat back in my seat, ordered on this routing and never regained it. I heard that trackwork a mini-bottle of white wine and toasted the ONTC! maintenance was being performed on the lower portion of CN's ONR DEVONSHIRE SUBDIVISION (Porquls Junction to Newmarket Subdivision. Cochrane) This was my first ride over the Devonshire Subdivision, and a ONTARIO NORTHLAND RAILWAY (at North Bay) rollicking ride it was. (I experienced a similar ride over the The ONTCs new Transportation Complex was scheduled for an Ramore Subdivision into Timmins a few years ago.) I don't Open House on Wednesday August 29, 1990. As you travel on know for sure, but I suspect that below Englehart the rail is the NORTHLANDER out of North Bay in a north-easterly direction probably 130 lb., and north of Englehart; lighter By the way (once you are on ONR's Temagami Subdivision), the Northgate the fare Toronto to Cochrane and return is $138.90.